The mark of a good pop artist is when they take underground sounds and make them accessible to mainstream audiences. With “Ba Bing,” Aussie DJ/singer Havana Brown melds bhangra and hard electro beats as the background of her sexed-up vocal performance. That Luciana cowrote the lyrics doesn’t come as a surprise at all. Though “Ba Bing” was featured on Havana’s 2012 album (still unreleased in the US), it sounds remarkably fresh for 2014. The mixing of Indian/Middle Eastern influences with electro has been done before – Rudenko “Everybody,” R3hab “Pump the Party,” and Diplo “Butter’s Theme” come to mind. The recently released NSFW video is sexually-charged but praiseworthy from a feminist standpoint because Havana is in control with men being just as scantily clad (if not more) than the women. That is never the case in EDM videos, at least not since Ultra Nate’s “Automatic.” Actually, the cinematography seems partially inspired by the previously mentioned “Butter’s Theme.” The video for “Babing” is part of the release of a new single “Better Not Said,” which based on previews sounds like she is trying to put a pop spin on the aggressive EDM tracks that you hear from the Spinnin’ camp. Watch for a favorable review coming soon.

Image sampled from music video. Special thanks to Julio Leonel Bonilla for song suggestion.

From the ’50s to the ’30s, Mayra Veronica has found a niche and is brilliantly updating iconic music with current styles. As the face for ’50s pinup model Bettie Page’s fashion line, she topped the chart last year with “Mama Mia,” a Latin-flavored jam that started as a club dub and became a pop hit thanks to a topline co-written by Luciana and a sexy video that went viral. For “Mama Yo,” she channels Carmen Miranda and updates her 1939 movie classic “Mamãe Eu Quero” by teaming with ’30s swing revivalists Sweet Life Society and again with Miss Luciana. The results are playful and funky with a modern swing vibe not dissimilar to what Yolanda Be Cool did with “Americano” a few years back. So it comes as little surprise that Mayra reached out to the funky Aussie for a remix and the result is just as fun as the original. The effects and pumped-up energy make “Mama Yo” transcend the swing-house genre to become an instantly memorable pop/dance record that could cross over to mainstream radio all over the world, just like “Americano” did. Don’t worry DJs, if swing isn’t your thing, there are also aggressive electro mixes by the Dutch brothers Ruben and Jente Bootsman, better known as the Boots Men. The bang it out in the traditional Dirty Dutch style while keeping enough of the vocals in place so you know its Mayra in the mix. As Major Lazer says in his track “Buma Ye,” “Watch out for this!”